The Royal Opera's 2014/15 Season opens tomorrow night (11 September) with a special student and under-25 performance of Anna Nicole.

The performance will be even more special than usual, with star treatment for ticket holders including a free Birra Moretti or non-alcoholic cocktail for early birds. We’ll also be rolling out the red carpet used for award ceremonies such as the BAFTAs at the entrance. The Paul Hamlyn Hall will be filled with the sound of a live jazz band and bar staff will be serving a specially-created 'Anna Nicole cocktail' throughout the night.

Our restaurants have also been caught up in Anna Nicole fever, and will be offering a menu inspired by the opera and all things American, including hamburgers, macaroni cheese and pastrami on rye. The Amphitheatre Restaurant will offer a main course and a beer for £8. View the full menu.

Discounts also extend to the programme book, available at this performance for just £4.

Prizes will be on offer, with the opportunity to win a pair of tickets to The Royal Ballet's Don Quixote from our selfie-station in the Paul Hamlyn Hall. To enter, snap a selfie on the night and tag it with #ROHannanicole on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Although there is no dress code, feel free to dress to the nines - feather boas are positively encouraged!

This first performance is reserved for students and under-25s only, with tickets priced £1–£25. Find out more about ROH Students. ROH Students is generously made possible by the Bunting Family and Simon Robey.

Following the success of last year's Student Ambassador scheme, we're once again looking for passionate, creative and confident students who will be brilliant advocates for the Royal Opera House in their universities from September onwards. Ambassadors will promote exciting productions from the Main Stage, Linbury Studio Theatre and nationwide Cinema Season programmes throughout the year by ensuring that the Royal Opera House is represented in the right places and at the right times on and around their campus/universities.

We believe that all students should have access to world-class productions at the Royal Opera House, whether it be in London or at cinemas nationwide and want you to be the one that helps spread the word to your fellow students.

As an Ambassador, you'll get:

Access to discounted and complimentary tickets to Royal Opera House productions

A fascinating insight into the inner workings of one of the world’s greatest opera houses

The opportunity to meet and network with other Ambassadors and arts professionals

The opportunity to meet the Royal Opera House staff and creative team

And who knows – perhaps a little bit of CV enhancement!

As well as this, the most impressive Student Ambassador will be awarded with a week long’s work experience at the Royal Opera House in September 2015.

To apply to be a Student Ambassador, please send your CV and a description of why you would make a brilliant Ambassador, including an idea of how you would promote the Royal Opera House in your campus (max 250 words) to studentstandby@roh.org.uk by 26 August.

Applications are open to students from across the UK and shortlisted applicants will notified by 29 August and must be available for phone interview the following week. Successful applicants will be invited to a welcome event to meet other Ambassadors and the Royal Opera House team at the Royal Opera House on 11 September, followed by seeing Anna Nicole that evening. Travel expenses will be covered.

You will need to be signed up to our Student Standby scheme so if you are sharing this with friends please don’t forget to tell them to register first.

ROH Students is generously supported by the Bunting Family and Simon Robey.

We invited a group of students into the Royal Opera House to immerse themselves in what opera is and how it is made.

The resulting films are sometimes about the art form and sometimes about a specific opera but they all exude a refreshing and playful enthusiasm for opera's potential to tell transformative stories.

We’re delighted to be publishing these short films while we have La traviata on stage, and La bohème opening in a couple of months, and plan to release one each Friday lunchtime here on our blog and on the ROH YouTube channel. You may also spot one or two of these films if you come along to one of our free outdoor BP Big Screens.

We will be publishing a blog post on each of the students who have completed films for this project, investigating their creative process.

Let us know what you think of the films. We’d also be interested in which moments from opera you think would work well as animations.

BP Big Screens open with La traviata on Tuesday 20 May 2014. If you are a university student, find out more about the ROH Students scheme – offering discounts and special events.

To purchase the tickets, you'll need to be registered. You'll then need to close your browser, log back in and navigate to the performance on 12 November, and select 'Web Student Discount' to purchase your tickets. You'll be able to purchase up to nine student tickets online if organizing a group, but as tickets are limited to two tickets per student card, you'll need to show a valid student card for each pair of tickets purchased when you collect them from the Box Office.

Please note that tickets are limited and as there are often long queues for student tickets on the day of the performance, please try to collect early, or pop by the box office in advance of the date to pick up your tickets at a quiet time as this will help us and greatly reduce your queuing times.

At the end of the Student Ambassador scheme last Season I was lucky enough to be offered a week's work experience at the Royal Opera House.

I was immediately struck by how vibrant and exciting the Royal Opera House is, even out of Season. Everyone has a passion for what they do which really shines through. Plus, you never know who you might bump into down a corridor: a Principal dancer warming up for Don Quixote rehearsals, a crew setting up for the GQ Awards, or one of the world's top directors heading to the Main Stage for a rehearsal of Les Vêpres siciliennes. At some organizations, the height of responsibility for those on work experience is making a cup of tea - not so at the Royal Opera House!

As a Computer Science student I was really interested to know more about the digital side of the Royal Opera House. How do they create the vast array of content for their website and social media? What do the technology team have in place to cope with sudden influxes of website visitors on booking days? And how does it all tie into the artistic side of the organization?

I spent the first two days working with the Digital Development team who design and maintain the website and internal computer system. They also develop tools like the new ticket search on the homepage: a great way to find bargain tickets for upcoming productions. I also got to see them working on the system scheduling rehearsals in all the studios around the building - you definitely don't want that to go down in the middle of the Season!

Moving to the Digital Content team, the emphasis moved over to the content side of the website. I was amazed at how much diverse material the team creates in-house: from blog posts and email campaigns to video trailers and much more. I helped on a couple of projects, using my interests in both technology and content to help shape the design of some future features - very exciting stuff!

I happened to be working on first Student Booking Day, when the first batch of 10,000 tickets allocated just for students were released and gave feedback on the email informing students, saw how the website was boosted to cope with the extra load, and watched the conversation on social media in real-time as tickets were snapped up. This was a great experience, especially after being involved in discussions shaping the scheme throughout last Season.

I think the most amazing thing about working at the Royal Opera House this week is that you never know what you might end up doing. One minute I was writing a piece on Joyce DiDonato performing at the Last Night of the Proms, the next I was assisting on the production of a trailer for Les Vêpres siciliennes, then I was off to meet a Jette Parker Young Artist to discuss ideas for future blogs. A work experience placement at the Royal Opera House in an invaluable experience for anyone wishing to work in the arts. It's rewarding, opinion-forming and valued by employers. I thoroughly recommend it!

Applications are now open to be a Royal Opera House Student Ambassador during the 2013/14 academic year.

Following a fantastic first year of the Ambassador scheme, we are once again looking for passionate, creative and confident students who will be brilliant advocates for the Royal Opera House in their universities around the UK from September onwards.

Ambassadors will promote our events to fellow students throughout the year by ensuring that the Royal Opera House is represented in the right places and at the right times on and around their campus/universities. We're keen for Ambassadors to share details of productions from the Main Stage, performances in our Linbury Studio Theatre and Cinema Season relays around the UK.

believe that all students should have access to world-class productions at the Royal Opera House, whether it be in London in their local cinema, and we'd like you to help us spread the word.

As an Ambassador, you will get:

Access to discounted and complimentary tickets to Royal Opera House productions

A fascinating insight into the inner workings of one of the world’s greatest opera houses

The opportunity to meet and network with other Ambassadors and arts professionals

The opportunity to meet the Royal Opera House staff and creative team

The opportunity to enhance your CV with invaluable experience.

The most impressive Student Ambassador will be awarded a week of work experience at the Royal Opera House in September 2014.

It’s not every day you get chat to Kasper Holten about the staging of Die Zauberflöte, or mingle with Carlos Acosta at the stage door after a performance. Such is the life of a Royal Opera House student ambassador, a truly unique experience for young people with an enthusiasm for the Arts.'

To be a an Ambassador you have to be willing to spend the time connecting with your student body, but it is worth it. Being able to talk to students who have just seen their first opera or ballet (and are already booked to see more) is hugely rewarding, and it is amazing to see changes happen in which you know you have played a part.'

To apply to be a Student Ambassador, send your CV and a description of why you would make a brilliant Ambassador, including an idea of how you would promote the Royal Opera House in your campus (max 250 words) to studentstandby@roh.org.uk by 14 June.

Shortlisted applicants will be notified by 19 June and must be available for interview at the Royal Opera House on 27 June. Successful applicants will be notified the same day and are invited to a Welcome Event to meet other Ambassadors and the Royal Opera House team in Covent Garden on 10 July. Travel expenses for both events will be covered.